Ben Hur (Packet, 1887-1916)

Summary

• BOAT DESCRIPTION: Sternwheel
• BOAT TYPE: Packet
• BUILT: 1887 at Harmar, Ohio by the Knox Boat Yard
• FORMERLY: Machinery came from the towboat Ed Hobbs. Her three-chime whistle came from the George Strecker and was made by a mechanically-minded farmer who lived above Waverly, West Virginia
• FINAL DISPOSITION: Sank and lost at Duckport, Louisiana March 1916
• OWNERS: The Cramer Family; 1904, Mississippi River Amusement Company, St. Paul, Minnesota; briefly owned by Tom Morrissey then transferred to Captain George Prince, Prince and Wild
• OFFICERS & CREW: Captain Fred Kimple, Jr. (master), Ed Dunn (clerk); Monroe "Doggy" Cross and Bert Cramer (pilots); 1904, Captain Ed Sims (master); Captain Harry Donnelly; Captain Tom Morrissey; Captain Wallace M. Ditch (master), W.A. Roberts and Warren Kouns (pilots), managed by Captain L.M. Gray; Captain George Prince
• RIVERS: Ohio River; Mississippi River; St. Croix River
• OTHER INFORMATION: Ways - 0568; Originally used in the Pittsburgh-Parkersburg trade. During her first year she carried John Robinson's famous circus on tour. Sold in 1904 to Mississippi River Amusement Company, based in St. Paul where she ran excursions. She briefly worked the trades out of Vicksburg and by 1912 was running New Orleans-Bayou Teche twice weekly. She sunk at Duckport, Louisiana in March 1916. Today the three chime whistle is in the collection of the Missouri Historical Society, but alterations have ruined the tone
• PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Left to right: Clerimond, Ben Hur, Lorena, Bessie Smith, Virginia, Ohio at Wheeling, West Virginia